“Iron Angels 3” Theatrical Poster
Director: Teresa Woo San
Cast: Moon Lee Choi-Fung, Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Kharina, Ralph Chan Shing-Gwai, Mark Steinborn, Katy Hickman, Marco Lo Chi-Fung, Bill Rockloff
Running Time: 91 min.
By Z Ravas
1989’s Iron Angels 3 was the third Iron Angels film in as many years, which makes one wonder whether these movies were a smashing success in the local Hong Kong market or else Teresa Woo’s production company Molesworth simply hit a groove in the late 80’s that saw them turning out these Girls with Guns flicks with efficient ease. Either way, I must once again sing the praises of distributor Vinegar Syndrome for bringing together the entire trilogy in one attractive hi-def package, albeit in a limited number (they apparently sold out of the initial 5,000 print run in a matter of days).
For those of you just joining us, the Iron Angels series is a loose trilogy of Hong Kong action films about a co-ed Charlie’s Angels-like group of mercenaries; the Angels are the team that get called in when a terrorist or criminal threat is simply too much for local law enforcement to handle. I say ‘loose’ trilogy because continuity is not exactly a priority here; the purported leader of the Angels, portrayed by David Chiang, doesn’t show up in any of the sequels, and the lead actors are often playing characters named after themselves (Moon Lee stars as Moon, for instance), suggesting our protagonists are not so much fleshed out characters as they are mere avatars for our highly qualified cast of martial artists. In other words, you could probably get away with watching these Iron Angels films in any order without feeling lost.
While my recent rewatch of the original Iron Angels helped to solidify that film as one of my favorite Hong Kong action films of the 1980’s, I had to ding the sequel a little bit for bumping up Alex Fong’s bland character Alex to the lead—sidelining Girls with Guns icon Moon Lee in the process—and saving most of the rewind-worthy action for the ending. Fortunately, Part Three gets the series back on track by bumping up the action quotient and giving Moon Lee much more to do, even if it commits the almost unforgivable sin of dropping Elaine Lui from the cast. (I can’t find any information about why Elaine Lui was absent after being such a highlight of the first two Iron Angels; one suspects it may have simply come down to scheduling issues).
Iron Angels 2 saw the Angels on vacation in Malaysia; in their final outing, there’s no time for R&R as our heroes-for-hire are busy tracking the operation of a deadly criminal organization in Thailand. Once the Angels are boots on the ground, Alex teams up with some new compatriots, including a tech wizard gweilo who’s literally named Computer, while Moon Lee gets the juicier role of attempting to infiltrate the gang as an undercover agent. This leads to several standout action sequences for Moon, including a sensational fight in which she fends off an army of black-clad henchmen with nothing but her nunchaku and dynamic kicks.
Though perhaps it’s true that no film in this series except the original has been able to get the formula 100% correct, as Moon Lee proves conspicuously absent during the big finale here. It would have been preferable to see Moon get in on the action with Alex and his ally Kwai (played by Ralph Chen), but I can’t say too many bad things about the climax of Iron Angels 3. In fact, I don’t want to say too much about it at all for fear of ruining the surprise; let’s just say Teresa Woo takes a little bit of inspiration from Thunderball era James Bond and veers close to science-fiction territory in the process. The relentless, ‘infinite ammo’ shoot-em-up action of the finale was taking me back to those Time Crisis arcade cabinets, you know, the ones where you held a big blue or red plastic gun and mowed down wave after wave of disposable bad guys. The conclusion to Iron Angels 3 is a lot of fun if you can get on its ridiculous wavelength, ending the series on another high note, exempting our M.I.A. Moon Lee.
And I absolutely must mention an earlier scene where Alex Fong steps into the ring with a Muay Thai Boxer—their fight seems to rage on for a solid 10 minutes, but more importantly that Thai boxer is played by none other than the late, great Panna Rittikrai, mentor to Tony Jaa and a damn fine martial arts filmmaker himself. It’s a treat to see Rittikrai in his prime, delivering what look like some devastating flying knees to poor Alex Fong’s midsection.
Rare is the trilogy in which the sequels manage to top the benchmark set by a beloved original; even if the first Iron Angels remains the gold standard, director/producer Teresa Woo deserves credit for maintaining a level of quality throughout the series and for making sure the climax to Iron Angels 3 met expectations for a delirious action high.
By Z Ravas’s Rating: 7.5/10
